Off-campus speech that students share on the Internet must have heightened protection from school disciplinary authority to keep whistle-blowers and rap artists safe from punishment, an attorney for a suspended Mississippi high school student told appellate judges Tuesday.

While lawmakers fought over the economic and religious implications of hot topics like gay marriage, abortion, health care and cybersecurity, they were essentially deciding what level of privacy Americans should be entitled to under the law.

It has long appeared to be a basic legal principle that, while public school officials are the masters of their own domain, they generally do not have authority elsewhere -- unless they can show that off-campus activity directly implicates the operation of the schools.